Whatd make him think either one of emd stop trading with him? I asked.

Jem said, Miss Rachel would, Miss Maudie wouldnt. But a jurys votes secret, Atticus.

Our father chuckled. Youve many more miles to go, son. A jurys votes supposed to be secret. Serving on a jury forces a man to make up his mind and declare himself about something. Men dont like to do that. Sometimes its unpleasant.

Toms jury sho made up its mind in a hurry, Jem muttered.

Atticuss fingers went to his watchpocket. No it didnt, he said, more to himself than to us. That was the one thing that made me think, well, this may be the shadow of a beginning. That jury took a few hours. An inevitable verdict, maybe, but usually it takes em just a few minutes. This time he broke off and looked at us. You might like to know that there was one fellow who took considerable wearing downin the beginning he was rarin for an outright acquittal.

Who? Jem was astonished.

Atticuss eyes twinkled. Its not for me to say, but Ill tell you this much. He was one of your Old Sarum friends . . .

One of the Cunninghams? Jem yelped. One ofI didnt recognize any of em . . . youre jokin. He looked at Atticus from the corners of his eyes.

One of their connections. On a hunch, I didnt strike him. Just on a hunch. Couldve, but I didnt.

Golly Moses, Jem said reverently. One minute theyre tryin to kill him and the next theyre tryin to turn him loose . . . Ill never understand those folks as long as I live.

Atticus said you just had to know em. He said the Cunninghams hadnt taken anything from or off of anybody since they migrated to the New World. He said the other thing about them was, once you earned their respect they were for you tooth and nail. Atticus said he had a feeling, nothing more than a suspicion, that they left the jail that night with considerable respect for the Finches. Then too, he said, it took a thunderbolt plus another Cunningham to make one of them change his mind. If wed had two of that crowd, wedve had a hung jury.

Jem said slowly, You mean you actually put on the jury a man who wanted to kill you the night before? How could you take such a risk, Atticus, how could you?

When you analyze it, there was little risk. Theres no difference between one man whos going to convict and another man whos going to convict, is there? Theres a faint difference between a man whos going to convict and a man whos a little disturbed in his mind, isnt there? He was the only uncertainty on the whole list.

What kin was that man to Mr. Walter Cunningham? I asked.

Atticus rose, stretched and yawned. It was not even our bedtime, but we knew he wanted a chance to read his newspaper. He picked it up, folded it, and tapped my head. Lets see now, he droned to himself. Ive got it. Double first cousin.

How can that be?

Two sisters married two brothers. Thats all Ill tell youyou figure it out.

I tortured myself and decided that if I married Jem and Dill had a sister whom he married our children would be double first cousins. Gee minetti, Jem, I said, when Atticus had gone, theyre funny folks. d you hear that, Aunty?

Aunt Alexandra was hooking a rug and not watching us, but she was listening. She sat in her chair with her workbasket beside it, her rug spread across her lap. Why ladies hooked woolen rugs on boiling nights never became clear to me.

I heard it, she said.

I remembered the distant disastrous occasion when I rushed to young Walter Cunninghams defense. Now, I was glad Id done it. Soons school starts Im gonna ask Walter home to dinner, I planned, having forgotten my private resolve to beat him up the next time I saw him. He can stay over sometimes after school, too. Atticus could drive him back to Old Sarum. Maybe he could spend the night with us sometime, okay, Jem?

Well see about that, Aunt Alexandra said, a declaration that with her was always a threat, never a promise. Surprised, I turned to her. Why not, Aunty? Theyre good folks.

She looked at me over her sewing glasses. Jean Louise, there is no doubt in my mind that theyre good folks. But theyre not our kind of folks.